winghold

English

Etymology

From wing +‎ hold; modelled on foothold, toehold.

Noun

winghold (countable and uncountable, plural wingholds)

1. (literary) Stability of the wings in flying; a seeming purchase of the air made by a flying bird.
   • 1967, J. A. Baker, The Peregrine, page 39:

     Swerving and twisting away from the misty lower air, he rises to the first faint warmth of sun, feels delicately for winghold on the sheer fall of sky.

2. A hold or grasp of the wing.